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Half a century ago, Belgian Zoologist Bernard Heuvelmans first codified cryptozoology in his book On the Track of Unknown Animals.

The Centre for Fortean Zoology (CFZ) are still on the track, and have been since 1992. But as if chasing unknown animals wasn't enough, we are involved in education, conservation, and good old-fashioned natural history! We already have three journals, the largest cryptozoological publishing house in the world, CFZtv, and the largest cryptozoological conference in the English-speaking world, but in January 2009 someone suggested that we started a daily online magazine! The CFZ bloggo is a collaborative effort by a coalition of members, friends, and supporters of the CFZ, and covers all the subjects with which we deal, with a smattering of music, high strangeness and surreal humour to make up the mix.

It is edited by CFZ Director Jon Downes, and subbed by the lovely Lizzy Bitakara'mire (formerly Clancy), scourge of improper syntax. The daily newsblog is edited by Corinna Downes, head administratrix of the CFZ, and the indexing is done by Lee Canty and Kathy Imbriani. There is regular news from the CFZ Mystery Cat study group, and regular fortean bird news from 'The Watcher of the Skies'. Regular bloggers include Dr Karl Shuker, Dale Drinnon, Richard Muirhead and Richard Freeman.The CFZ bloggo is updated daily, and there's nothing quite like it anywhere else. Come and join us...

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Thursday, July 17, 2014

A word about cryptolinks: we are not responsible for the content of cryptolinks, which are merely links to outside articles that we think are interesting (sometimes for the wrong reasons), usually posted up without any comment whatsoever from me.
TORONTO - An island community on Lake Ontario expressed a mix of relief and frustration Wednesday after a video which had many wondering if a shark was lurking nearby turned out to be an elaborate marketing ploy. The clip made waves across the province and beyond, with many offering opinions on what they were seeing, although experts agreed the creature on camera wasn't a fresh-water-friendly bull shark but likely a large catfish.

The matter even came up at Ontario's legislature, where the governing Liberals cheekily noted there was no need to strike a Jaws-like task force, but asked residents to stay safe and report any sightings to the Natural Resources Ministry. It was only on Wednesday afternoon that Discovery Canada, which is owned by broadcasting giant Bell Media, said a finned creature which momentarily surfaced while three men fished off a dock was in fact a life-like prosthetic model of a shark.

The channel said the video — which was posted on YouTube July 10 — was the first stage of a marketing campaign to promote an upcoming programing series on sharks. But for local residents on Wolfe Island, where the video was supposed to have been filmed, the entire matter was one that set some on edge.

What has Corinna's column of fortean bird news got to do with Cryptozoology?Well, everything actually!In an article for the first edition of Cryptozoology Bernard Heuvelmans wrote that cryptozoology is the study of 'unexpected animals' and following on from that perfectly reasonable assertion, it seems to us that whereas the study of out-of-place birds may not have the glamour of the hunt for bigfoot or lake monsters, it is still a perfectly valid area for the Fortean zoologist to be interested in.

The hunt for British Big Cats attracts far more newspaper-column inches than any other cryptozoological subject.

There are so many of them now that we feel that they should be archived by us in some way, so we are publishing a regular round-up of the stories as they come in.

The worldwide mystery cat phenomenon (or group of phenomena, if we are to be more accurate) is not JUST about cryptozoology. At its most basic level it is about the relationship between our species and various species of larger cat. That is why sometimes you will read stories here that appear to have nothing to do with cryptozoology but have everything to do with human/big cat interaction. As committed Forteans, we believe that until we understand the nature of these interactions, we have no hope of understanding the truth that we are seeking.

Readers
living in the east of the UK have an almost unprecedented chance to make a
little bit of zoological history. In 1953 a single specimen of an eastern
European butterfly called the Scarce or Yellow Legged Tortoiseshell was caught
in Kent. Another specimen was found dead in the Shetlands in November last year.
But now, following a huge invasion of western Europe, they have turned up in
some numbers in eastern England. There is now speculation that they might breed
here. Please do me a favour: check out this link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nymphalis_xanthomelas
and keep your cameras and cameraphones at the alert. Particularly look for
mating pairs or females laying eggs. Send me pictures and reports and help us
make a little bit of zoological history. I said to Corinna that as my
stepdaughter Olivia lives in Norfolk she should give the forthcoming baby the
middle name of Xanthomelas in honour of this extraordinary invasion, and she
just looked at me with barely disguised disdain.

The latest issue of Gonzo Weekly (#86) is available
to read or download at www.gonzoweekly.com. It has Hunter
Thompson on the front cover an an article by theatrical producer Lou Stein about
his friendship with the good doctor. There is also an interview with Paul
Woodwright from Kozfest, Galahad at the Christchurch Festival in pictures, Doug
Harr with thefirst of a mini series on Brand X, whilst Jon muses about Alan
Moore (who knows the score). There are also new shows from the wonderfully
eccentric Jaki and Tim on their Submarine, from Canterbury Sans Frontières and
from the multi-talented Neil Nixon at Strange Fruit and a collection of more
news, reviews, views, interviews and salamanders from Toulouse (OK, no French
caudata, but I got carried away with things that rhymed with OOOOS) than you can
shake a stick at. And the best part is IT's ABSOLUTELY FREE!!!

All issues from #70 can be downloaded at www.gonzoweekly.com if you prefer. If you
have problems downloading, just email me and I will add you to the Gonzo Weekly
dropbox. The first 69 issues are archived there as well. Information is power
chaps, we have to share it!

To make sure that you don't miss your copy of
future issues make an old hippy a happy chappy and subscribehttp://eepurl.com/r-VTD

* The Gonzo Daily is a two way process. If you have any news or want
to write for us, please contact me at jon@eclipse.co.uk. If you are an artist and
want to showcase your work, or even just say hello please write to me at gonzo@cfz.org.uk. Please copy, paste and
spread the word about this magazine as widely as possible. We need people to
read us in order to grow, and as soon as it is viable we shall be invading more
traditional magaziney areas. Join in the fun, spread the word, and maybe if we
all chant loud enough we CAN stop it raining. See you tomorrow...

* The
Gonzo Daily is - as the name implies - a daily online magazine (mostly) about
artists connected to the Gonzo Multimedia group of companies. But it also has
other stuff as and when the editor feels like it. The same team also do a weekly
newsletter called - imaginatively - The Gonzo Weekly. Find out about it at this
link: www.gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2012/11/all-gonzo-news-wots-fit-to-print.html

* We should probably mention here, that some of our posts are links to
things we have found on the internet that we think are of interest. We are not
responsible for spelling or factual errors in other people's websites. Honest
guv!

* Jon Downes, the Editor of all these ventures (and several
others) is an old hippy of 54 who - together with an orange kitten named after a
song by Frank Zappa puts it all together from a converted potato shed in a
tumbledown cottage deep in rural Devon which he shares with various fish, and
sometimes a small Indian frog. He is ably assisted by his lovely wife Corinna,
his bulldog/boxer Prudence, his elderly mother-in-law, and a motley collection
of social malcontents. Plus.. did we mention the orange kitten?

ON THIS DAY IN 1945 - U.S. President Truman, Soviet leader Josef Stalin and British Prime Minister Winston S. Churchill began meeting at Potsdam in the final Allied summit of World War II. During the meeting Stalin made the comment that "Hitler had escaped."